Obama ahead in 2012 election newspaper endorsements

For what it is worth, with just two weeks to go for elections, President Obama is marginally ahead of his Republican rival Mitt Romney in newspaper endorsements for the top job, a decades-long American media exercise of dubious value.

| TNN | Oct 23, 2012, 01.06 AM IST

WASHINGTON: For what it is worth, with just two weeks to go for elections, President Obama is marginally ahead of his Republican rival Mitt Romney in newspaper endorsements for the top job, a decades-long American media exercise of dubious value.

Some 35 American newspapers and journals have endorsed Obama and 32 have come out in favor of Obama in a ritual that research has shown has little bearing on the election outcome, but media pundits say is aimed at stimulating conversation and debate.

Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Orlando Sentinel are among the newspapers that have switched to Mitt Romney after having endorsed Obama in 2008, but the President still has the greater support from the media, including in key swing states, than his rival. Among newspapers that endorsed John McCain in 2008, Winston-Salem Journal and San Antonio Express-News have backed Obama this time.

USA Today and Wall Street Journal are among the few large newspapers that do not endorse any candidate, but almost all other publications, including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times (which has backed Obama this time), endorses not just the Presidential race candidate but also other local contenders for elected office.

Media mavens have lately reflected much on this practice and concluded that endorsement may not carry the weight they perhaps once did given the boom in social media, partisan blogospheres, the instant news-cycle and declining print publications in the U.S.

Still, newspapers are reluctant to give up the exercise. In fact, one newspaper, the South Bend Tribune of Indiana, published an editorial last week explaining why it chooses to continue endorsements.

The Tribune's Editorial Board, the paper maintained, "continues to believe that the endorsement process is an important part of our duty. Editorial Board members not only have followed the issues closely, but have an advantage many voters do not enjoy: interviewing the candidates."

"We are not endorsing in every race voters will see on their ballots. If we weren't able to meet personally with candidates or to closely follow pertinent issues, or aren't in a position to know any more about a race than voters can learn themselves, we will not weigh in," it said.

Occasionally, an unexpected or unusual endorsement or a switch in support can cause a minor stir. This election for instance, the Salt Lake Tribune from Romney's home state of Utah caused a kerfuffle by backing Obama. After lavishing praise on Romney's service to the state, the paper, in an editorial headlined "Too Many Mitts," said his frequently shifting positions and lack of detail about policies during his presidential bid make him "worthy of mistrust."

"Therefore, our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first," it said.

Not that it matters very much in the state. Obama and the Democrats have written off Utah, which is firmly in the Republican Romney's pocket.

RELATED

From around the web

More from The Times of India

Recommended By Colombia

From Around the Web

More From The Times of India

Recommended By Colombia

Comments

Characters Remaining: 3000

OR PROCEED WITHOUT REGISTRATION

Share on Twitter

SIGN IN WITH

FacebookGoogleEmail

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Acid attack survivors walked the ramp with elegance and panache in Taj Mahal, Agra. Hundreds of people came to watch the unique fashion show, which was organised by Rivaaz, an Indian ethnic clothing retailer.